thoughts on places for a long cycling weekend?

mr spuckler

morning all.
myself and a few mates are looking at destinations to go away for 3-4 nights some weekend next year to get in some good cycling and am hoping for some recommendations / advice.

we'd definitely like to do a decent bit of climbing and would like somewhere that has a nice town for relaxing in between spins.

the 3 that came to mind were...
- Mallorca. am just back from there with the family (although only got out for 1 short cycle) and for me I think would be a really good combination for the first time doing a trip like this
- Bourg D'Oisans or somewhere similar. great access to the French alps, don't know much about the town.
- Northern Italy, somewhere like Bormio at the foot of the Stelvio. i've been to Bormio before and know the area well. good access to the Gavia, Mortirolo and Stelvio.

any thoughts or other suggestions? has anyone done similar and can share experiences?

thanks!

brownian

Girona or Barcelona. Palma. Bergamo. Lyon. Milan Malpensa. All good airports, all in good hill country, except Lyon which has good train links.

The Stelvio is of course super, but if you're climbing from Bormio you're going the wrong way 8-)

McTigs

I had a beautiful day cycling on the hills of Majorca just recently - Alcudia to Sa Calobra and back and I reckon i only scratched the surface.

Lovely roads, some decent climbs.... food, coffee and beer all of a more than acceptable standard

07Lapierre

+1 Majorca/mallorca...hard to beat.

mr spuckler

brownian wrote: »

Girona or Barcelona. Palma. Bergamo. Lyon. Milan Malpensa. All good airports, all in good hill country, except Lyon which has good train links.

The Stelvio is of course super, but if you're climbing from Bormio you're going the wrong way 8-)

i was staying in Bormio, visiting for other reasons and took advantage of heading up. knocking around the far side wasn't much of an option and there was no way my legs could handle both ascents!

but yeah, next time i'm back there i hope to do both sides and maybe even some of the other nearby climbs

oh and...the descent into Bormio is much more my style

mr spuckler

McTigs wrote: »

I had a beautiful day cycling on the hills of Majorca just recently - Alcudia to Sa Calobra and back and I reckon i only scratched the surface.

Lovely roads, some decent climbs.... food, coffee and beer all of a more than acceptable standard

i cycled Port de Pollenca to Cap Formentor last week, was very limited timewise so only got the 1 short spin done. i drove some of the other roads near Inca & Soller and fully agree - i'm mad keen to go back...however i don't want to come across as too biased to the group, hence seeking more balanced opinions here

siochain

Mallorca FTW

ford2600

Kenmare, Westport, Dungarvan

Exiled1

Ireland
Kenmare....good deals too in off season.
Spain
Mallorca.....awesome.
Tenerife - if you wish to climb and climb.
Girona, Bilbao
France - Too many to name.
Italy - ditto

nilhg

OP, if you're going abroad for a long weekend cycling then the practicalities really determine where you'll end up, stuff like timing of flights, time of year/temperature, easy availability of bike hire.

As an example in April a group of us went to Majorca on a Thursday afternoon, had the bikes delivered Friday morning first thing, rode Friday, Saturday and Sunday, on Monday morning rode from Port de Pollenca out to Cap Fermentor and back, returned the bikes, had lunch and comfortably caught the evening flight home to Dublin, it was a great weekend, but no way would I consider it in the heat of July.

The Alps in season are great but you'll pay much more and have a lot more time on transfers and in mid summer there's the chance of very high temperatures.

A group of us from the club spent last weekend in Waterford, we had a fantastic time, rode some great roads on our own bikes and all at a fraction of the cost of going away.